Russia receives 1,000 requests from Daesh widows for return

Moscow: Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova says Moscow has received hundreds of requests from the widows of Daesh Takfiri terrorists, who were slain either in Iraq or Syria over the past few years, to return home.

Speaking at a conference in the Russian capital city of Moscow on Tuesday, Moskalkova said over 1,000 requests have been submitted to Russian authorities, adding that the women have “sustained an unimaginable violence.”

She further noted that the repatriation of the Daesh widows is a difficult process, given the fact that they have been involved in acts of terror and their return could pose a threat to the safety of Russian citizens.

On April 29, the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, which is the country’s flagship criminal justice institution, found 19 female Russian citizens guilty of “joining and supporting Daesh” and handed down life sentences to them.

The court issued the verdicts as women, all accompanied by small children, attended the hearing.

Ziyad Sabsabi, a Russian senator and Deputy Chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, had earlier warned that the Russian women would face death penalty, noting that most of them had denied their charges.

He pointed out that there were children, less than three years of age, who were kept in jail along with their mothers.

Earlier this year, Iraqi authorities extradited four women and more than two dozen children from the families of Daesh militants to Russian officials.

“Iraq has handed over four women and 27 children from the families of those who have been brainwashed to join Daesh,” Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network quoted Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Mahjoub as saying on February 22.

“There was no proof that those extradited had been involved in terrorist operations against Iraqi civilians or security forces,” he said, adding, “They will be prosecuted in Russia for illegally entering Iraq.”